The invention is related to the field of telephony, and in particular to a telephone or adjunct box related thereto that stores data.
Modern telephones and adjunct boxes associated therewith store many forms of data, such as Caller ID data associated with incoming calls and speed dial data associated with particular speed dial buttons. Speed dial data is typically provided by a user. For example, the user may be provided the option to program one or more speed dial buttons associated with a telephone such that the user may subsequently place an outgoing telephone call merely by activating one or a few buttons.
Caller ID data, on the other hand, is typically received from a network as part of an incoming telephone call. According to the Caller ID feature, data is associated with the incoming telephone call to provide the called party some information regarding the calling party, in particular, information regarding the calling party""s telephone. The called party typically has an adjunct box, or a xe2x80x9cfeature-phonexe2x80x9d with the adjunct box functionality incorporated therein, with a liquid crystal display that provides the called party with the information as the incoming call is being received. In the United States, the Caller ID information is typically provided between the first ring signal and the second ring signal, as described in Belicore standard GR-30-CORE, incorporated herein by reference.
Alternatively, if the called party is engaged in a first telephone call while a second telephone call is being received, the called party may receive Caller ID with Call Waiting (CID/CW, or Type II Caller ID) information during a muting period as governed by Bellcore standard GR-30-CORE, incorporated herein by reference, or alternatively according to the procedure defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,407, incorporated herein by reference. Similar standards, albeit not necessarily identical to the U.S. standards, are applicable in other countries.
An attribute of Caller ID is that it enables a called party to screen incoming calls by determining, based on the information presented, whether the called party wants to take time to engage in a conversation with the incoming caller, or to have the call go unanswered or forwarded to an answering machine. An additional advantage is that the called party can benefit from a record of the stored Caller ID data to use as a simple look-up device when returning a call to the incoming caller.
For example, the called party can scroll through the Caller ID data accumulated for a plurality of incoming calls by activating one or more keys of a telephone keypad while observing information presented on the Caller ID display. When the information that the called party is looking for appears on the display, the called party can place a return telephone call by dialing the displayed number (by activating the corresponding keys), or in some telephones may simply press a key associated with the Caller ID display to automatically cause the displayed telephone number to be called.
The opportunity to use preprogrammed speed dial buttons to place an outgoing call, or to scroll through stored Caller ID telephone numbers as part of placing an outgoing call may be habit-forming, especially for a user of a Caller ID device that enables an outgoing call to be automatically initiated upon the activation of a single key when the target telephone number is displayed. One proposed improvement to the existing technology is to make it accessible remotely, such that a user may call in to the user""s telephone to review stored Caller ID data associated with one or more incoming calls, and to subsequently initiate an outgoing call to a particular party.
A disadvantage of this proposed improvement is that it may interfere with normal conversation flow if a user is calling in to find a stored telephone number and the incoming call is answered by, for example, a member of the user""s family. In such a circumstance, the user has a few options. A first option is for the user to tell the answering party that the user wishes to terminate the present call, and to subsequently place a new call that the user does not want the answering party to answer. This process will enable the user to call in and review the stored Caller ID data or speed dial information.
An alternative option is for the user to ask the answering party to review the Caller ID or speed dial data, locate the proper record or records, and to verbally provide the information contained in the record(s) to the user as part of the telephone call. This alternative option is advantageous in that it doesn""t require the user to place a new incoming telephone call to obtain the data, and potentially a third incoming telephone call to continue the conversation. However, this option may be inconvenient to the answering party in that, once a record is retrieved, the answering party must write the information down or memorize it, if the telephone used by the answering party is not proximate to the display. Similar actions may be necessary if the display is integral to a handset used by the answering party because such a configuration may make it inconvenient for the answering party to simultaneously review the data and engage in the conversation. There is a need, therefore, for a method to enable an answering party to easily send the data out to the incoming caller while engaged in a telephone call.
This need is met, in one embodiment according to the invention, by a telephonic apparatus including an interface to a network, a memory adapted to store a telephone number, a text-to-speech module adapted to produce audible signals associated with the stored telephone number, a processor, and a local input unit. The local input unit is adapted to produce an input signal in response to user activation, and the processor is adapted to respond to the input signal by retrieving the stored telephone number from the memory and causing the text-to-speech module to produce the audible signals for transmission to the network via the interface.
In an alternative embodiment according to the invention, a method of transmitting Caller ID data to a distant party includes the steps of receiving a local input command, retrieving stored Caller ID data in response to the local input command, producing audible signals based on the retrieved Caller ID data, and transmitting the audible signals to the distant party.